Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 93 Entries. Monday, February 18 View Page Cover crop is going to seed with this crazy warm weather. I plan to till it in this week. Monday, February 18 View Page slave labor, getting the garden ready for new boxes Monday, February 18 View Page The plan is six boxes (one for each kid) 2x12 redwood 4'x7'x2' Monday, February 18 View Page mesh bottom to try to help with the stinking pocket gophers Monday, February 18 View Page They are rather heavy to move, I ended up taking the one on the driveway apart and putting back together in the garden Monday, February 18 View Page more slave labor Monday, February 18 View Page letting the world know this is her box Monday, April 8 View Page first plants in the garden boxes Monday, April 8 View Page peas, onions, garlic, potatoes, weeds are all growing well Monday, April 8 View Page trying to learn the difference between a vegetable and a weed Monday, April 8 View Page slave labor Monday, April 8 View Page I never did get my weed block and bark on the path... Monday, April 8 View Page cover crop cut and tilled in Monday, April 8 View Page Christmas in April from dripworks Monday, April 8 View Page starting a few early... I think 100 Brouillard, 448 J Werner, 980 Fredricks (cracked in shipping but we will see), 1524 Fulk... still trying to decide, the others will wait until the end of the month We are excited for our first year growing AG's Tuesday, April 9 View Page 100 Brouillard, 980 Fredricks, 448 J Werner, 566 J Werner, 989 Frei, 1643 Fulk went in the dirt Saturday. I did not do anything special, no filing or soaking. They are in a propagation chamber with a grow mat. 989 Frei is pushing soil. Keeping my fingers crossed for the others. If my results are not good in a few weeks I will go to filing and pre-sprouting in a bag. Wednesday, April 10 View Page After work I went out to mow the lawn. I had a few helpers. Someone needs to invent a kid size/friendly lawn mower. It would make it go much quicker. Notice the nice size pocket gopher mound in the middle of the lawn. I am trying to figure out how I can keep them out of the patch. They are everywhere. Thursday, April 11 View Page I called in some reinforcements for my war with the pocket gophers. First bobcat I have seen around here. Just 50 feet off the driveway. Cell phone camera stinks, but it did have a really pretty coat. Not very big. It sat there for five minutes staring at a gopher hole. Thursday, April 11 View Page I don't want to jinks it but I think I will have 100% germination Saturday, April 13 View Page spinach lettuce carrots peas are all growing like crazy Sunday, April 14 View Page Things went OK for the most part. I was out of town a few days. A few had a hard time getting out of the seed coat. I will be filing for sure next time around. The only one that did not germinate was the 566 J Werner. Dug it up and no roots or anything. Sunday, April 14 View Page Pictures were crossed on my posts. The last picture is the 980 Fredricks. It was damaged in shipping. I really want to grow this one. It is one of the ones that had trouble getting out of the seed coat. It also appears to have three cotyledons. I have one other 980 if this one does not do well. It along with my 833 and 795 Dunn seeds that will hit the dirt in a couple of weeks. Monday, April 15 View Page 448 J Werner, 989 Frei, 1643 Fulk, along with an open pollinated random seed went in the ground. They were the seedlings that looked the strongest. Saturday, April 20 View Page We planted 18 seeds directly in the ground. We plan to keep 6 plants. If they don�t germinate we will go back to the propagation chamber. Thursday, April 25 View Page No movement from those we planted direct. I need get a thermometer for next year so I can keep track of the soil temp. Live and learn. We will start them in individual pots in the propagation chamber. Friday, April 26 View Page We planted our main seeds today. 575 Eckardt, 795 Dunn, 566 J Werner, 833 Dunn, 1048 Engel, 1432 Northup, 1277 Fulk. Priscilla was really concentrating hard. Sunday, April 28 View Page 100 Brovillard we started a few weeks ago made it to the dirt at my Mom's house. The 980 Fredricks went in the dirt at a friends house. He had heard I was going to grow a huge pumpkin. His wife who has a special birthday, October 31 had a stroke and is confined to a wheel chair. He though it would be cool to grow one that she could see. I know he will take could care of it. I will post pictures of their progress. Sunday, April 28 View Page Just stumbling through my first year growing a giant pumpkin. I have learned it does not do any good to plant early if I don't keep the plants warm at night. That along with disturbing the roots a little too much when I planted stopped all growth. These guys really have not grown much at all. The other thing I have learned is make sure whatever protection I do provide is secured well enough so it does not blow over and damage the plants. Just keeping notes for next year... Sunday, April 28 View Page We have already had 2 days over 90, next week we should pick up 4 more. I guess I need to install the misters a little earlier then I planned. Monday, April 29 View Page Great news!!! The seeds we planted directly in the ground are moving soil. Terrible news, we are not the only ones excited to have kins growing out there. Monday, April 29 View Page I was watering and all of the sudden the water was gone down a hole. Monday, April 29 View Page They are around each of the seedlings. Monday, April 29 View Page 1401 Fulk is the first fatality. What ever roots there were are gone with just the top part of the plant remaining. When I watered it the hole thing fell into the hole. Monday, April 29 View Page I found a tunnel by the older plants as well. I will post in the pest section If you have any suggestions please let me know. Tuesday, April 30 View Page I set some traps Tuesday, April 30 View Page I think with the watering down tunnels and all the digging they cleared out of the sections where I set the traps. Tuesday, April 30 View Page Is water on the ends of the leaves in the morning normal? A plant a few feet away did not have any. Tuesday, April 30 View Page Still stumbling through the first season. I ended up baking the seeds we planted on the 26th. All of Priscilla's hard work planting them and I botched it by not paying close enough attention. I left the lid on the propagation chamber, sun hit it, they were north on 120 degrees for a large part of the day Sunday. :( Saturday, May 4 View Page Seeing a video the Wiz posted with his hoop house wrapped in blankets in the snow was inspiring. I decided to take my war with the gophers to a new level. It has been a little trial and error but I think I have it dialed in. The wind did not help. I know roots being disturbed is a bad thing but the gopher tunnel was going right under the plant. Just a short video of what I have come up with. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgGfEsgBBaY Saturday, May 4 View Page More reinforcements for the war with the gophers. I will take all the gopher and king snakes I can get. I am not real kind with rattlers. We get a few each year. Tuesday, May 7 View Page Either a rabbit or small deer. There is still plenty around to eat so it was just passing through. I need to get some fencing up. Tuesday, May 7 View Page I need to narrow this group down. The bottom left is the 989 Frei. It is the wilted pumpkin from the video last Saturday with the gopher tunnel right under the plant. It does not seem like the blast as hurt anything. Bottom right is 1643 Fulk. Top left is 448 J Werner. Top right is from an open pollinated kin that my Mom grew last year. Not sure where the original seed is from but supposedly a winner from half moon bay a few years ago given to her from a friend of a friend. How do you decide which ones to keep? Wednesday, May 8 View Page Score is 1 to 3, gophers lead, but I am happy I got one. I plan to keep setting the black hole trap, I also picked up some solar powered mole chasers. $10 at Harbor Freight. It lets out a vibration every thirty seconds. The box says it works with gophers. We will see... I am starting some back ups and will try a couple planted in wire cages. Monday, May 13 View Page We harvested broccoli, beets, and spinach to make room for a mothers day surprise. The top left is a walking stick kale from the seed exchange Tuesday, May 14 View Page The early plants are doing well. In the back ground are four that were direct seeded. I need to get the drip and misters up. The plants are getting baked. I have one more to get in the ground this weekend. I am going to try to plant it in a cage to avoid the gophers. Wednesday, May 15 View Page This is going to be fun, heat, wind, kids, gophers, and.... Thursday, May 16 View Page deer!! a little early in the year to get deer pressure. I need to add fencing to my list of things to get done... Monday, May 27 View Page I was trying to find a way to roll out a few thousand feet of drip tape. The kids are very competitive. Monday, May 27 View Page I timed them out and back. Monday, May 27 View Page She tried real hard but her legs are just not as long. The moon boots full of soft dirt did not help. Monday, May 27 View Page Even PK wanted to try. She saw a bird halfway and stopped for a break. Monday, May 27 View Page We have drip. Note the nice straight lines, 18" apart. Monday, June 3 View Page We have mist. I used tornado misters from drip works. I have a couple of 1/2" lines going down either side of the plants. I come off those with the small tubing and zip-tie the misters to rebar stakes. I can move as needed. If was going to do it again I would go a different direction. Monday, June 3 View Page Shout out to Ron Root. Made my first patch visit. Ron was very helpful. Thanks for the advice and the plants. It was great to see what a mister system should look like. Next year I will do something similar. The micro-bird spinners from Rain Bird work much better then the tornado misters I am using. Thursday, June 6 View Page Wind fence is finally up. I need to do this first next year. My plants are beat up pretty bad. Also I don't want to talk about it but pigeons eat pumpkin leaves. :( Thursday, June 6 View Page Looking south... Trying to be ready for the 105 plus temps we will get the next few days. A mix of $7 Ikea umbrellas and home made shade structures over the main vine tips. Thursday, June 6 View Page Looking north.... What the heck happened to my nice 18" spacing on the drip tape? I hate this stuff. It just does not work for my two year old's short little legs. I have repositioned it fifteen times. I was straightening it out this morning and did not realize that she was "helping". Coming right behind me purposefully picking up the lines and laying them back down in a new spot. She was so proud she was helping even if she was creating a rambling mess. She just doesn't understand the straight line concept. :) I gave up. Sunday, July 21 View Page 833 Dunn R.I.P. Unfortunately I have neglected my responsibilities as a responsible pumpkin grower. I unburied this from the jumbled mess that is my patch and found the nasty split. I still have five growing out of the eight plants I started with. Having fun and learning how these things grow. Saturday, July 27 View Page My virus issue... Saturday, July 27 View Page My very neglected patch... Saturday, July 27 View Page After about six hours it is starting to look a little better. I need to spend about twice that in the giants side, most of the six hours was spent weeding the field pumpkins. Saturday, July 27 View Page picture goes with last post... I have a bunch of culls that are way to big in the mess on the giant side of the patch... Monday, July 29 View Page Thanks for your time Ron, I did stop by Dick's. He had a lot of great information. He also went over with me how to measure pumpkins. It is a little easier actually seeing it done rather then going over it on the phone. I will get some measurements tonight on what I have growing. Anyway thanks again for your time!! Tuesday, July 30 View Page 1643 Fulk 258 ott don't ask how many days, open pollinated, this is my best pumpkin. Tuesday, July 30 View Page I don't know if we have any Harry Potter fans but I am going to pretend the rest of these are He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named... I don't know who is who until I harvest them. I have not kept good records but I do have markers somewhere at the stump, if I can find the stump. Another thing to add for my list next year. Maybe not doing it right but we are having fun watching these grow. 209 ott Tuesday, July 30 View Page This is on the plant that shows signs of the virus. Tuesday, July 30 View Page He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Tuesday, July 30 View Page He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Tuesday, July 30 View Page He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Tuesday, July 30 View Page He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Wednesday, July 31 View Page We put in a couple rows of corn and sun flowers. A deer came browsing through ate the corn on his way in and out. It ended up eating some leaves and small fruit that needed to be removed anyway. Still need to get up the fence. Wednesday, July 31 View Page A couple of examples of fruit that have been modified by the virus. I noticed the virus has spread to a couple of the field pumpkins that have not set fruit yet. A little worried but nothing I can do at this point. Trying to control the aphids and other bugs the best I can. I should of stayed on top of it, hope I can get some field pumpkins set. Wednesday, July 31 View Page Both of these are AGs with growth issues. Thursday, August 1 View Page I try to keep shenanigans down to a minimum in the patch... Thursday, August 1 View Page .... Thursday, August 1 View Page .... Thursday, August 1 View Page I ran them off, no damage done, I hope. Sunday, August 4 View Page King Triton est 413 lb (1643 Fulk) Hercules 201 lb Bolt 166 lb Mushu 423* lb Cheshire Cat 753* lb Dumbo 395* lb Mufasa 236 lb Simba 144 lb * weight is very suspect due to major sunken blossom, not sure how to correctly measure Monday, August 5 View Page Received an email from Agdia Inc. "We have completed the initial ELISA testing of your samples and found your Pumpkin leaf sample to test positive for WMV and POTY." WMV = Watermelon mosaic virus POTY = Potyvirus group test Monday, August 5 View Page Tested positive for Watermelon mosaic virus, potyvirus group and elevated results for Zucchini yellow mosaic virus. Now what?? Any suggestions here is the thread: http://www.bigpumpkins.com/msgboard/ViewThread.asp?b=6&p=481903 Wednesday, August 7 View Page Can anyone help with what is going on here? Ends of the vines are green but the oldest leaves are turning yellow. Sunday, August 25 View Page 1524 Fulk.... estimated 510 lbs Sunday, August 25 View Page R.I.P. Sunday, August 25 View Page called in the wrecking crew Sunday, August 25 View Page My axe man Sunday, August 25 View Page It might of not been very deep but she was doing her part Sunday, August 25 View Page The saw worked the best Sunday, August 25 View Page Pretty thick on top but around two inches where it split around the blossom Sunday, August 25 View Page a full load Sunday, August 25 View Page cows to help us compost it Sunday, August 25 View Page One of our favorites, 1432 Northup, I don't really know how to measure it. The kids like the nice seat (sunken blossom). Sunday, August 25 View Page One thing I failed to realize was I need to support the stem and for as long as I can keep the stem and blossom end parallel. It weighed too much for me to move once I realized I was going to have a stem issue. I ended up having to dig a hole to open the kink. I also lost the battle with the aphids. Sunday, August 25 View Page The kids like the seat but also the color